Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Feeding is for the Birds!

Got five TH feeders going now, four on the main BOW and one on the forage pond (1/8 acre). But while the fish are feeding well (12 seconds Optimal BG feed twice a day on main BOW), something else is, too: Birds.

Specifically, a GBH showed up five minutes before feeding time, waited for the BG pandemonium to begin, then flew down and snagged a couple of BG. The GBH also tried doing that elsewhere near a different feeder, but with less success.

Also noticed that the Canada Geese swam over when the feeder went off. In their case it wasn't BG they wanted, but the feed! Got some, though I suspect the fish got a lot more.

Any suggestions? Perhaps place fishing line near the feeders to thwart the GBH?

Thin wire on posts would be good, like electric fencing wire.

About what height would you suggest the wire be strung, John? The GBH likely stands around 3 to 4 feet...

I bet the birds at my place get a fair amount of the dog's food. I seems to be something I have to accept, but I would have a hard time with the GBH getting the fish. That's a part of the food chain that doesn't benefit you.

Would feeding in deeper water help or be possible?

Maybe a floating ring to contain the feed with some netting of some sort to cage off the feeding area, kind of like a teepee over the water from the feeder to the floating ring.

If I knew I had a GBH swooping down and taking fish from me when my feeder went off.... I know what I would do but I'll keep it to myself....

RC

You could put netting up around feeders.

Anybody tried a GBH decoy? Or maybe alligator decoy?

I tried a floating alligator head on my pond last year. It worked for a couple months. I think the gbh got used to the decoy being in the same area without it moving.

I have had a heron hanging around my pond also. i hope he doesn't become a problem to my new fish in my still filling pond.

reno, i bet people turn their heads when they see an alligator head in an Indiana pond. lol

It is illegal to harm either Herons or dang near any bird so I'm not giving any advice on this. I agree with RC. If I were raising chickens and a chicken hawk was getting them, I would do what it took to solve that problem. And, I would keep my mouth shut.

I am not sure if the GBH and the big white herons are migratory or not, but this past week to 10 days I have had 6 to 8 gbh and I counted eleven of the big white ones at the pond every morning. I also have two of the black herons at the pond. Smaller but they still eat my fish. I have been making my rounds at the pond early every morning and that seems to get rid of the gbh but the big white ones are much harder to discourage. I am attempting to discourage them coming to the pond by driving around the pond in the side by side.

Today the GBH had it most easy at my pond. Usually as soon as he or she sets foot on the pond bank and I see it we race down there with the dog and run them off. The herons are hard for the dog to spot from the house. I don't know if his eyesight is that bad or they are just that hard to see but they move even the slightest bit and he can instantly see them and is off like a shot after them.

The kids have been having fun catching big goldfish out of the pond and throw them in our 'livewell' We have an old stainless steel wash machine drum in the shallows. It has a metal shaft sticking out of the bottom so it kind of sets on a diagonal at rest and the opening is pointing to the middle of the pond. There were about 6 fat goldfish in there.

Today I look out the window and the GBH has waded into the deeper water (unusual!) and circled around the wash machine drum till he was on the far side of it and was looking in. His eyes probably got as big as saucers and was like 'Smokes alive! I hit the paydirt!' He paused for a moment to size up his meal and then snagged a huge one out of there. He had to work a bit to flip it around and down it but he probably thought this was the easiest fishing he ever did, fishing out of a livewell!

I tried the gator decoy this year, and doesn't work on GBH or the white ones.

I have a dog that patrols the pond she does a fairly good job of keeping the herons at bay but now we dont have turkey or deer either. she also keeps the hogs out.

Thanks for all the great replies. Our battle is not just with cormorants!

I've no desire to harm a heron, even if it were legal to do so. (Cormorants are a different matter.)

Took two steps today to help with situation. First, got 200 plants of four different varieties put into the pond. This will eventually give more shelter to the CNBG from predators. Second, moved my feeder to water's edge & tilted it up more. This should result in less feed near shore where GBH patrols, so fewer fish vulnerable to depredation.

Longer term, I may put up some sort of a fence around the feeder. Herons dislike landing in the water.

Frank, what type of plants did u get and where did you get them?

Duck potato, American Pondweed, Wild Celery, Pickerelweed. They offer different packages of plants depending upon your objectives.

Pond King is the supplier. I bought a pontoon boat from them and was impressed, so figured it was worth a chance to enhance the habitat. Their number is 940 668 2573, site pondking.com.

Not relevant to the subject at hand, just an observation: I am continually amazed at how different the approaches, strategies, and goals are among pondmeisters. The notion that someone would purposefully buy plants to stock into their pond to provide hiding places for bluegills is fascinating to me. I spend money trying to eradicate everything green!

I am at that exact cross roads in my pond. I want to reduce/tie up my nutrient load, to 'starve' the FA. But I've been reluctant to introduce other plants for that purpose. I worry about starting a plant war I didn't previously have..

Did they look like this?

Yep, it really is interesting to see the differences in circumstances and goals. In my case, zero pond plant growth, somewhat infertile water, adds up to poor CNBG/RES recruitment. Larger fish doing fine, and they are bedding like crazy, but YOY either starve or get eaten.

Oddly, the same is not true of LMB: They are reproducing quite well, judging by the number of YOY we see.

I've fertilized, added TP and GSH to take pressure off CNBG, even added cover around the dock but still few or no tiny BG. Next step is more cover plus more lime, I guess.

Yep, the same rascals -- though in my case, the mom & dad geese have two goslings. Used to be four, but something (coyote? dog?) got two.

Doggone heron is too smart for its own good, actually knows when the timer will go off and plans dinner accordingly.

Sparkie, like Dr Luke I have some concern when it comes to aquatic plants. BUT, PB magazine May/June 2017, Aquatic Vegetation and Trophy Fisheries/Dylan Kwak, recommends at least 10% to 15% of the cover in a pond should be vegetation. I have made several attempts to grow some but so far have not been successful. Brian (Highflyer) was kind enough to let me have some of his American Pondweed from his pond and like the other aquatic plants I have attempted to grow , it did not make it either. I do well above the water or at the ponds edge with growing plants but below the surface, Nothing I have planted has taken up roots. I am now building and using brush piles along the shoreline to make up for the lack of plant cover. OH! I already had some nice brush piles in the pond, but they are out in the deeper parts of pond

Hmmm. What were the intended goals listed by way of explanation for recommending that amount of vegetative cover?

My main goal is enhance habitat so more YOY CNBG & RES can survive. Beds everywhere, but electroshock survey last fall showed very little recruitment, and LMB weren't growing properly except for cannibals.

Some nice CNBG, which I fed, but too big for stocked 4 inch LMB. Since no algae nor water plants, the previously stocked TP (big mistake in retrospect, but hindsight is 20/20) ate the FHM and what few YOY CNBG that didn't starve (infertile, clear water). No place for little guys to find shelter. By the time the Bass were stocked they either ate each other or went without.

So my goal is help CNBG/RES recruitment, along with GSH & TP stocked this year. This should help the LMB, or at least I'm hoping so.

pH was only around 5.3 - 5.5 last year, so fertilization would have been futile. This year around 6.5, and fertilized about 50 lbs a month ago. Water still fairly clear, but definite green tinge and even some FA growing around one feeder.

If I had a shallow pond, I wouldn't try plants. However, roughly three quarters is deeper than 8 feet, mostly deeper than 10.